Dear Cole:

I praise God that you are now practicing your faith.

You need to stay away from these "traditionalist" Catholics for they will lead you astray. The first "tradition" is that of obedience. They are not obedient, but have the arrogance to think that their opinions outrank official Church teachings. They are really liberals, for that is what liberals do.

These "traditionalists" do not have the authority or the charism to interpret the faith. Christ gave that authority and charism to the Pope and Magisterium. A loyal Catholic defers his opinions to the teachings of the Pope and Magisterium (including the current pope). Otherwise, such people are not in communion with the Church, and some have gone into schism, which incurs an automatic excommunication.

Read your Catechism, not these so-called "traditionalist" websites. What the Catechism says is the Truth of the Faith. Those who contradict the teachings in the Catechism are wrong.

The idea that one must be a "card-carrying" Catholic to go to heaven is wrong. This heresy is called Feeneyism. Fr. Feeney was excommunicated in the 1940s for teaching this and refusing to repent.

All people are saved through the Catholic Church, whether they know it or not. But, there are situations in which people, through no fault of their own, do not know they are to be "card carrying" Catholics. These too "may" be saved according to God's grace, who can save anyone He wants. The Catechism explains:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."

This teaching does not mean that you can pick and choose your religion. You know the Catholic Church is the true Church that Jesus founded. If you were to leave the Catholic Church you will put your soul in danger of hell.

The Catholic Church is where God wants everyone to be. But, there are those who were raised in other denominations or other religions who either do not know, or do not understand that Christ wants all in the Church. These people may still try to sincerely follow God as best as they know how. God does not abandon such sincere efforts.

No one is saved through Buddhism, but an individual Buddhist might be saved. There is no guarantee on that. That is why we must still do evangelism to try to convert the nations so they may enjoy the certainly of God's promise of salvation through the Sacraments of the Church.

To our separated brethren, the non-Catholic Christians, they are genuine Christians by virtue of a valid baptism. There is only one baptism and that baptism is into Christ's Church, the Catholic Church, whether they know it or not, like it or not. So they are imperfect members of the Catholic Church, just not in communion with the Pope. 

This disunity is a shame, but we hope that these separated brethren will some to the full knowledge of truth and seek full communion. This is why the Catholic Church has dialogues with the various denominations.

Salvation can be theirs by the sincerity of heart to do the will of God. However, once a Non-Catholic has been convinced that the Catholic Church is the true Church, he must become Catholic or risk hell. This is the decision I faced when, after 15 years as a Baptist minister, I was confronted with the Truth. It was the Bible and the Bible alone that proved to me the truth of the Catholic Church. With that knowledge, had I refused to become Catholic, I would have risked my soul to hell.

God looks at what you know and the sincerity of your heart. You know that Christianity is God's truth, thus if you abandon Christ for Buddhism you cannot claim a "no fault of your own" ignorance. The same is true if you left the Catholic Church for a non-Catholic denomination.

As for Mortal Sin: Three conditions are required for a sin to be mortal:

1) it must be a grave sin (matter)

2) one must know that it is grave sin

3) one must have the freedom of volition to not care that it is grave sin and do it anyway. Anything that impairs that freedom can reduce culpability.

But, one cannot pretend to not know that something is sin. In fact, pretending to not know, feigned ignorance, increases culpability.

The Bible informs us that basic moral principles are written on the hearts of all humans. We inherit this knowledge, as-it-were, so there is no excuse. In addition, nearly every society on the planet contains within its moral culture the knowledge that fornication and homosexual sex is sin.

There is no excuse. There is not a single person in this country that can claim ignorance that fornication and homosexual sex is wrong.

Fornication and homosexual sex are clearly condemned in the Bible. These numbskulls who try to claim something different are risking their souls.

As for Catholic politicians who support abortion, contraception, euthanasia, assisted suicide, homosexual marriages, and the like, they are gravely sinning, they need to be banned from the Sacraments (and any priest or bishop who does not do this is sinning by not banning these politicians), and such politicians risk their souls.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary